Private landowners in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) have a additional opportunity for financial assistance to restore bottomland hardwood forests called carbon banking. Carbon banking, or carbon sequestration, is the process of growing trees to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Energy companies pay money to landowners to create carbon banks so they can receive carbon credits that are traded on the open market.  Carbon banking is on the rise and will likely become a driving force behind reforestation efforts in LMAV.  In order to better understand the financial opportunities carbon banking can create for the private landowner, we first must explore the reasons behind this phenomenon.

Prior to the past century, most carbon atoms were locked up in materials like oil, coal, or trees and other plants. In recent decades, increased burning of fossil fuels (i.e., oil, coal) and deforestation has accelerated the release of carbon into the atmosphere, where it forms carbon dioxide. High levels of carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” cause heat to be trapped near the surface of the planet, contributing to global warming. Recently, there has been a strong push towards addressing these climate concerns using creative yet practical solutions like carbon banking.

When existing forests are conserved and sustainably managed, and cleared forests are replanted, they can become very effective long-term carbon storage banks. Managed forests can provide society with much needed carbon banks, as well as wood products, clean water, flood water storage, recreational opportunities, and fish and wildlife habitat.   With a forest management strategy that promotes genuine stewardship, the progress of global warming can be slowed, and in turn, all the benefits that our healthy forests provide can be appreciated.

Energy companies around the world are interested in carbon banking to offset the carbon dioxide they emit when they burn fossil fuels.  Carbon credits received from planting and storing carbon in trees are a commodity that is being traded on the open market.  Energy companies are especially interested in using forests as carbon banks in the LMAV because this region provides fertile soils, abundant rainfall, long growing seasons, and relatively inexpensive land.

From the BBCC’s perspective, carbon banking in forests in the LMAV creates important economic opportunities for private landowners and an opportunity to create the habitat needed for a healthy black bear population.  As the utility industry embraces the need to sequester atmospheric carbon, the goals and objectives of the BBCC and those of the utility industry become increasingly compatible.

The BBCC’s Landowner Assistance Program is unique in the region and can be used as a tool to unite groups of landowners interested in carbon banking in priority areas targeted for bear habitat restoration.  Because energy companies are interested in large tracts, several landowners can partner with the BBCC to present one large carbon bank that will be more competitive than each landowner on their own.  The BBCC has already established reforestation priorities that address water and wildlife related issues. The additional benefits of carbon sequestration lend further credence to the ongoing efforts of the BBCC and those partners involved in carbon banking.